


Inclement - Ghost

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1475]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21689608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: Tony, Tobias, and Gibbs are all growing up in Stillwater when kids start vanishing. Just what is going on?
Relationships: Anthony DiNozzo/Jethro Gibbs
Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1475]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/444514
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18
Collections: Prompts for Cutsycat - NCIS (2018)





	Inclement - Ghost

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Appletini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Appletini/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [Appletini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Appletini/pseuds/Appletini) in the [cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2018) collection. 



> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 05/15/2003 for the word [inclement](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2003/05/15/inclement).
> 
> inclement[ in-klem-uh nt ]  
> adjective  
> (of the weather, the elements, etc.) severe, rough, or harsh; stormy.  
> not kind or merciful.
> 
> This was requested by Appletini as part of my 2018 prompt challenge [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2018/profile). The 2018 Prompts are closed, however, you can still sign up for the 2019 Prompts [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2019/profile). More instructions are below if you wish to sign up. 
> 
> **Prompt:**
> 
> Gibbs, Fornell and Tony are kids growing up in Stillwater in the 1950s. They become friends as kids start disappearing mysteriously in their small town and they try to find out why.
> 
> Lol this prompt is sponsored by the ghost of Stephen King. Feel free to add scary clowns, werewolves and other fun stuff.  
>  **End Prompt**

Leroy stared out his window at the incoming inclement weather. He was hoping the storm would cause school to be canceled. He hated going to school because that always meant he had to deal with Ed. 

No matter how much he tried to stay out of Ed's way, Ed always seemed to find him. The school tended to frown on fighting and he could never prove Ed started it, so it was super annoying. Tobias and Tony tried to back him up, but Ed's father was the sheriff so Ed was always believed over everyone else.

Well that wasn't entirely true. He was pretty sure if he tattled to his dad that his dad could get them to believe him, but he didn't want to be that kid. He wasn't weak. He didn't need his father to fight his battles for him.

As Leroy expected, school wasn't canceled and he still had to go. What he didn’t expect was to arrive at school and find out that one of the students hadn’t shown up and no one knew where he was. Tobias and Tony tossed ideas around as to what could have happened to him. 

There was something about being kidnapped by killer clowns. Tobias offered a suggestion involving werewolves. Leroy listened to them trade ideas back and forth and was mostly convinced that they were both insane.

Eventually classes were over for the day and the three of them retired to the general store Leroy’s father owned. Mr. Gibbs never minded the extra help, but there was a standing rule that if they came home with Leroy they had to help out. Naturally, they talked as they worked and the subject once again returned to the missing student.

Mr. Gibbs interrupted, “How do you know they’re missing?”

“They didn’t show up to class, Mr. Gibbs,” Tobias announced.

“Couldn’t they just be sick?”

Tony shook his head. “No, none of their friends know where they are which means they weren’t at home either.”

“Strange,” Jackson mused.

“What do you think it is?” Tobias pondered.

“Well it could be any number of things, I suppose.” Jackson tapped his chin thoughtfully.

“Like what?” Tony eagerly asked.

“Well the miners have this old tale about the ghost of Jillian Truesdell. Apparently, she haunts the woods nearby and anyone who goes out in them at night may find themselves kidnapped and turned into a ghost themselves.”

“What? Really?” Tobias protested.

Leroy rolled his eyes. “He’s just pulling your leg, guys. There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

Tony looked between Leroy and Mr. Gibbs not sure which one to believe. Tobias had a similarly perplexed expression on his face though he seemed more inclined to trust Leroy over Mr. Gibbs. 

“Of course, I’m kidding,” Jackson agreed.

Leroy harrumphed and turned to his friends. “See.”

While Leroy’s back was turned, Mr. Gibbs mouthed, “Come back tonight and I’ll take you out into the woods so you can see for yourselves.”

Tobias and Tony had to return home for dinner not much after that. Leroy turned to his father and asked, “Do you really believe that ghosts exist?”

“I’ve seen them with my own two eyes, son.”

Leroy’s lip curled into a sneer. “I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to. Come with your friends and I tonight and you’ll see for yourself.”

Leroy narrowed his eyes at his father, but when the time came he joined Tobias and Tony as they followed Jackson into the woods. Both Tobias and Tony jumped at the slightest sound, but Leroy just shook his head. 

“The forest is filled with animals, guys. There’s nothing to be afraid of. There are no ghosts here.” He didn’t bother mentioning that he’d been out in the woods after dark many times and had never seen a ghost. 

They stayed out for an hour or two, but as Leroy insisted there were no ghost sightings. With disappointed faces Tobias and Tony trooped back to town. They couldn’t stay out any longer without their parents giving them hell. Leroy and his father returned to their house for the night. 

The next morning at school it spread like wildfire that another student had disappeared. Leroy sighed as Tobias and Tony started up their theories about what happened again. He didn’t bother pointing out how preposterous most of them were and just waited for school to be over. 

After last night, he really didn’t want to hear more about the missing students. He just knew that he was going to end up being dragged out to look for them again. There weren’t any ghosts and looking for them was just plain silly. 

As Leroy thought they all ended up going out to the woods again and once again there were no ghosts. He shook his head and told his friends, “I told you so,” as they returned to town empty handed again. They waved him off as Tobis and Tony separated off to go to their own homes. 

At school the next day, there was yet another report of one of the students missing. This time Leroy almost wanted to jump for joy because the person missing was Ed. On the other hand, Tobias and Tony were even more freaked out now because Ed was the biggest bully in school and if he couldn’t defend himself against whatever this was then how did anyone stand a chance?

This time when they went into the woods after school they split up into two groups. Leroy and Tony went one way, while Mr. Gibbs and Tobias went a different way. Leroy liked this because it gave him a chance to spend some alone time with Tony.

He hadn’t told Tobias or Tony, but he had a massive crush on Tony. He kept glancing at Tony while they walked and Tony finally burst out, “What? Do I have something on my face?”

Leroy shook his head and looked down at the ground shyly. “No. Your face is fine.”

“Then what?”

Leroy kicked a rock a few feet in front of him and watched it go skipping across the ground. “Nothing.”

“Jet. What is it? You’re worrying me now.”

Leroy looked up at Tony’s face and before he could talk himself out of it, darted up and left a small peck on Tony’s cheek. Tony put a hand over the spot that Leroy had kissed and looked at him wonderingly. “Do you like me?”

Leroy grunted and Tony smiled, pulling him into a kiss on the mouth. They didn’t exchange tongue, but they were both smiling when they pulled back. Before they could even consider doing more, they heard Mr. Gibbs calling them.

“We better return,” Tony pointed out.

Gibbs nodded, but it was clear that neither of them were eager to do so. 

“Meet you at the bleachers during lunch?”

Gibbs smiled shyly and held out his pinky finger for the pinky promise that Abby had taught all of them in kindergarten. Tony smiled back and they shook on it. They finally headed back to join Tobias and Mr. Gibbs after that. 

Each day they went to school, they found out about another student missing. During the midst of this all, Tony and Leroy were trying to sneak kisses and other moments of intimacy for their new relationship in without anyone being the wiser. Mostly, they were succeeding in getting sad eyes from Tobias who could never find them. 

They still went out every night to look for ghosts and they never saw any, but the weekend was coming up and Mr. Gibbs had suggested a camping trip. They’d all agreed, so on Friday they met up at the general store and headed out into the woods. They set up camp in the area that they’d been mostly exploring around during the week and spent the rest of the night telling each other ghost stories before they fell asleep.

Tobias was a little freaked out by the stories, but neither Leroy nor Tony seemed to care. They eventually fell asleep only to be woken later that night by a high pitched scream. The four of them sat bolt upright in their sleeping bags and exchanged looks. 

Grabbing the flashlights, they decided to investigate, but there was no sign of anyone near them. Nor any evidence that anyone had ever been near them. They’d eventually returned to their tent and their sleeping bags. 

The next day everything seemed normal until they heard another scream. They rushed to investigate it and found a clown, a creepy clown. The clown had blood pouring out of his chest and a knife stuck in the middle of it. 

The three boys screamed and ran away. By the time they made it back to their campsite, they were panting and out of breath. “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know. I think it was a killer clown.”

“Or maybe a dead clown.” Tobias frowned.

They started to grow concerned when they realized that Mr. Gibbs hadn’t followed them back. Had he been kidnapped too? They hunkered down in their tent and prayed that Mr. Gibbs would return soon.

Eventually Leroy insisted on checking out what happened to his dad. Tobias refused to come, but Tony was happy to go with Leroy. Tony and Leroy set off together, exchanging looks and wondering if they could sneak a few kisses on the way.

Before they could do more than contemplate it, however, Tobias ran up and joined them. “I heard something.”

Leroy rolled his eyes and they followed Tobias back to the tent where there was no evidence of anything out of the ordinary. Tobias insisted that he’d heard something that sounded like a ghost.

“For the last time, there is no such thing as ghosts.”

“Are you sure about that, son?” Jackson murmured appearing from behind them without warning.

All three of the teens shrieked and jumped back. Mr. Gibbs chuckled. “It’s ok. There’s no reason to be scared. It was just Jillian telling us how she feels.”

“What about the clown?”

“What clown?”

“We saw a clown when we were walking with you that’s why we ran.”

“You did? All I saw was Jillian.”

The three boys exchanged looks. Something very weird was going on here and they were going to get to the bottom of this. It was starting to get dark now, so they agreed to return to the campsite. 

Once again, they were startled awake by a piercing scream. They all scrambled out of bed and ran in the direction of the scream. This time when they arrived they saw the clown holding hugging the kid with one hand and holding a dagger with the other. 

As they watched the hand with the dagger slammed straight through the kid and into the clown. Tobias screamed his head off and Tony and Leroy exchanged worried looks. Were they going to be the next victim of the killer clown?

Fortunately, the sun started to peek over the hill about that time and the killer clown disappeared taking the kid with it. This wasn’t fun and games anymore, however, and all four of them decided to head back to town immediately. From then on, none of them ever went in the woods after dark.

Tony and Leroy would talk about it sometimes as they hung out, but the memory of what they saw that night was too disturbing and too real to tempt fate. They lost a number of additional classmates before eventually the entire town considered the woods off limit after dark. Once that happened, things eventually went back to normal. Well as normal as things can get with the woods that were believed to be haunted by Jillian Truesdell the killer clown.

**Author's Note:**

> The dictionary.com series has no stories already written for it after this one, so I will be posting at least no more stories before I stop posting again. I'm hoping to get more stories written before then, so that I don't stop posting for a while. Wish me luck! 
> 
> 2019 is almost over now! If you haven't used up your 50 prompts you only have one more month to do so. Go [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2019/profile) to add your prompts to my 2019 Prompt Collection. Just click the sign up link. ;) It will remain open until the beginning of 2020. I'm hoping to complete all the 2019 prompts by the end of 2020. 
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes. Please note if you have already voted in the poll and would like to request more stories you can just add a comment to the poll. Please include the name along with the prompt, so that I can appropriately gift the prompt to you.
> 
> For any authors that want to chat and/or are looking for a place where they can toss plot ideas around and get input from people, you can come join my discord server that is specifically geared towards writing/encouraging people to write and authors. The invite link is [here](https://discord.gg/HFvwpCq). If you're not an author, but want to chat with me about writing/stories or anything else you are welcome to join. I reserve the right to boot you from my server if all you do is pester me about updates, however. *grin* Really anyone who wants to talk about writing and/or plot ideas for various stories is welcome to join. 
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them. 


End file.
